18064/Shadow-Walkers and Light

Shadow-Walkers and Light
Date of Scene:	26 May 2024
Location:	Alleyways - Hell's Kitchen
Synopsis:	Venom meets Cloak and Dagger properly. An alliance is made, and symbiote handshakes are shared.
Cast of Characters:	Eddie Brock, Tyrone Johnson, Tandy Bowen

---

Eddie Brock has posed:
It's shortly after midnight when the pair of men block the path of Tandy and Tyrone. At first they don't say anything. It's the glint of a knife in the urban light pollution that seems to send all the message they need in the beginning. "You wanna use our alley? Money, now," they threaten. The one without the knife begins to step forward, as though preparing to start robbing the pair that the other holds at knifepoint. Somewhere a siren shrieks for a split second. Some cop, somewhere farther away, blaring a brief warning to some pedestrian probably. The one with the knife briefly looks away, over his shoulder to make certain that momentary bleat of a siren wasn't directed at his activities.

It's shortly after midnight, but it's already been a long night of prowling the darker, seedier sections of New York City. It was from his place perched upon a narrow ledge on the side of a building in Hell's Kitchen that Venom noticed a pair of familiar faces slipping from one of the subway station exits. The 7 Train spat them out and it's sheer coincidence that the symbiote known as Venom spies the pair. Maybe it's that slight tingle at their presence in the back of the symbiote's mind, indicating some measure of danger or risk, as is so common for threats within the vicinity of the alien lifeform.

Yet despite that degree of inherent risk, Venom begins to prowl along. The form of the symbiote shifts and adapts, taking on the colors associated with the surfaces that he clings. His movements taken with deliberate care and agonizingly slow, he follows their path through the streets of beyond and into Hell's Kitchen. His own path takes him along rooftops and the walls of buildings, rarely touching the ground itself. Some time ago the pair had piqued Venom's curiosity and now the opportunity presents itself to learn more about them, to observe them for a change.

As Venom is cresting the latest rooftop, only briefly silhouetted against the sky and the shimmer of his camouflaged form visible on account of the city's ambient light; that is when he spies the pair below, now seemingly confronted by a pair of potential meals. Slowly, slowly, oh so slowly he begins to crawl down along that alley wall. Each movement and descending, crawling step take with deliberate care as he brings himself steadily downward toward the two pairs.

The symbiote's tongue slips outward, tasting at the air. The nervousness. The fear. The desperation. The eagerness. Was it the one with the knife? The other? One of the other two? The flavor that his tongue gathered from the air are far too tantalizing.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Ty was enjoying a night out with his girl. Sure, by necessity it had to be cheap, but they'd laughed, danced a little, just spent most of their evening enjoying each other's company. But when they got off the subway and picked up some stalkers, Ty just rolled his eyes.
    "Oh no." he told her. "Whatever will we do! He's got a knife. Guess we better get ready to hand over our wallets." he said, completely deadpan, and then finally cracked a smile. "Honey, why don't you show the nice man what a knife really is, mmmkay?"

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Tandy can't help but sass the guy with the knife. "Aww buddy, you so aggressive because your knife is tiny?" Her hands glow at her sides as two daggers appear. They're standard size, roughly 6 inches or so, but the glow and unexpected appearance tend to make them seem bigger. There's a joke in there, but she lets her knife work speak for itself, embedding it firmly in the guy's gut.

The shocked noise has her raising an eyebrow. "What? You're fine. The bruise is going to suck, but see..." Tandy presses her advantage, stabbing him in the knife hand as well and kicking the actual blade out of reach once it drops. "Unlike you, I'm not here to make the streets less safe. I'm here to stop assholes like you."

The mark over her eye glows with a searing light as she looks into him, pulling his hopes and dreams to the surface. On a good night they're lucky, and the people they're stopping are either known in advance, or petty criminals. Down on their luck. Desperate. This guy? Maybe he started out that way, but he's a sick fuck now, and there's only one place for those.

"Cloak?" she calls softly. "This one is dinner. Take him while I chat with his friend?"

Eddie Brock has posed:
The knife is dropped to the concrete and sent skittering away with the kick of a foot. Impaled in two places, the man's panic is quick to overtake him. He spins and begins to run, hoping to escape this situation that he instigated himself. Meanwhile his pal seems to look wide-eyed between Tyrone and Tandy both; especially after the latter seems to manifest blades of light that she puts to skillful use.

From above it is like watching the affairs of small, insignificant creatures at play. Rival ants at war over territory and resources. Some of the ants are better equipped however. For Venom has adopted the aerial view as he slowly crawls the distance down the one. They do not interfere, they do not impede. They watch from above and continue drawing gradually closer to the scene.

While Tandy seems eager to chat with the knife-wielder's buddy; after seeing what's happened to his friend, he backs away promptly. He doesn't flee, likely on account of being too fearful of trying to make such a brash move. He isn't about to let the mutant - or whatever she is - get too close.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
"Sure thing, Dagger." he said before the cloak that represented his powers appeared on his shoulders. He stepped into a cloak of Darkness to reappear before the fleeing man. "Don't run. You'll just die tired." he cautioned the fleeing punk before the Dark swelled forth to envelop the man, cutting him off mid-scream. He wouldn't take long to fade away entitely then Cloak would pull his body out of the Black, search him for valuables and cash, then dump the body into the East River. It's usually how these things went. No point in cluttering up the Dark with dead bad guys.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Dagger takes in the other guy. "You're scared," she says softly. "If you're cut from the same cloth as your friend, then you should be." She moves forward. Slow, small steps. Light, almost silent even though she's in chunky boots. "You can call me a messenger of divine justice," she continues, voice almost soothing. "If you're just in a bad situation, you have nothing to fear from me."

He's against the fence now, trembling, watching her stalk closer with a stark, obvious fear. Tiny daggers appear at her fingertips, and she lets them fly, watching them embed themselves into the man. He looks woozy as they hit, and it's easy to rest her hands on his shoulders and look, seeing those hopes and dreams. In his own way, he's just as bad as the first man, using children as messengers, getting them caught in games far too old for them. Her face shutters in anger. "This one too, Cloak."

Her voice is hard at the pronouncement, and she hooks a boot behind his ankle and yanks, jerking him into the fence and onto the ground. "Children," she spits out. "Precious, innocent. Inviolable. Harming them means death." He moans weakly, but Dagger is unmoved, simply standing watch over him until Cloak is finished with the first one. If they don't get into any serious fights for a while, this will keep him sustained for quite a while.

Eddie Brock has posed:
One man disappears. The other is put onto the ground with a well-placed trip.

Venom watches it all unfold from above and yet the symbiote does not make a sound. For now. He freezes now. Only a few scant yards from the alley floor, the prowling creature freezes as the downed man seems to look toward that brief shift of haze higher up on the alley way. "Hey," he begins to say before his attention snaps back to Tandy, "I'm not a bad guy! Shit happens, you know? Just trying to get by and make ends meet and all that!" He's lying obviously, but when in a desperate situation, almost everyone turns into a liar.

Amid the shadows that play out across the wall though, another begins to materialize. Out of the average line of sight, even the inky darkness that is Venom's form may go unnoticed as he lurks above and against the alley's wall. If he goes unnoticed though, it's his voice that may draw attention to himself. A low hiss interrupts the exchange between Cloak and Dagger, along with their remaining assailant. Venom's tongue lashes the air as his hellish voice grates throughout the alleyway, amid the backdrop of city sounds and the quiet hiss of steam leaking from a nearby sealed manhole, "We wanted to eat someone and we were stopped," the voice offers in mildly criticizing fashion. He does not descend lower from his place adhered to the alley wall, but neither does he attempt to conceal himself further. The brightness pink tongue lashing at the air is plainly visible among the gloom. The white of his teeth seems to stand out in sharp contrast to the oily blackness of the symbiote's skin as Venom's unsettling grin is visible among the shadows, "We are hungry too," he insists with a touch of menace bleeding into his monstrous voice.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Cloak started a little bit as Venom makes his presence known. He glances at Dagger then made an executive decision. "This guy's guilty as shit. Dagger's light don't lie, man. You want him? He's yours." Cloak said, drifting backwards a bit to give the symbiote room to maneuver. He had the other guy so he'd probably be good for a few days. "Just leave us what he's got on him, kay?"

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Dagger's eyes light up as she spins. "Lil Teefs! I started carrying treats hoping we'd run into you again!" She digs into the tiny purse at her side, emerging with a square of decent semi-sweet chocolate that she unwraps and holds out open on her palm. "Go on, just don't take my hand with it."

She considers the man at her feet. "So your brain diet. Do you need them alive? If you don't, wanna share with Cloak? He drains, you eat? Way easier than a river dump, really." Tandy has so many questions, especially after meeting Mania. "Do they taste different if they have drugs in their system? Is it bad if you get high? I can burn it out of him, it won't kill him."

Eddie Brock has posed:
The two opposing reactions out of Cloak and Dagger seems to set Venom's head to one side. The offer of a brain; the offer of chocolate. Why not both? Is likely the question to be asked. Suddenly an appendage flashes from the shoulder of the hulking brute that is Venom. The downed man begins to scream, but his face is swiftly covered by the symbiote's inky black flesh. The man's arms and legs thrash, whether on account of being unable to breathe or something far worse, is harder to determine. "Sharing with us? You are too kind," Venom answers with a deep, rumbling rasp of delight. There is a nod of acceptance out of the symbiote while the man's movements become more frantic, chaotic, and then finally come to an abrupt halt as the muffled sounds of crunching can be heard. Meanwhile the head of Venom continues speaking, as though the man at Dagger's feet wasn't presently being consumed from the inside out by a tendril of Venom shoved into his mouth and exploring his innards. Cloak and Dagger are spared from the more graphic parts at least, on account of a broader piece of Venom's form covering the man's face while he works to get the tender, juicy morsels inside.

In the same moment a much smaller, thinner tendril of symbiote flesh lashes out and toward Dagger. It slows as it draws nearer and Venom acknowledges first the chocolate, "Chocolate? For us? How very thoughtful," he growls with a hint of delight mingling with his otherwise unsettling voice. The offered chocolate is plucked up by that appendage of Venom's symbiote form after giving it a brief sniff. If he's able to claim it successfully, he brings it back to deliver onto his tongue. There he allows it to melt and truly permit himself to savor the flavor.

While Venom himself remains clinging to the alley wall, one long appendage extends from his body and down, across the space where it connects him to the downed man who has since gone still. "Everyone tastes different to us," he explains at first, "alive is best. Do you want a rotten apple?"

The man is finally released and the tentacle of symbiote flesh begins to withdraw. The man's stare is vacant. He's quite dead.

If there are any further answers coming to Dagger's questions; Venom doesn't seem keen to answer all of them immediately.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Cloak watched the whole process go down and then sighed. "I ain't gonna judge too much but that was gross. At least in the Dark people's life just evaporates off their skin. Course, they also get to come in contact with their worst selves, all the shit they've done in their life so at least your way's kinda a kindness." he said, then casually - one might even say coldly - Cloak started to roll the dead guy on the ground for cash, jewellery, anything they could hock or spend.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Dagger grimaced at the idea of a mealy, rotten apple, shaking her head with a definite no. She would - and had, when she'd been hungry enough - but she would rather not. "You said you liked it, so," She shrugged, a little uncomfortable. "When I've got some spare cash, I buy some and save part of it for you gooey types that don't immediately try to kill us."

She was studiously avoiding the sight of the dead guy, mainly because she currently had a lot of questions and was trying to figure out which ones wouldn't get the two of them eaten, and partially because... well, that was a little more visceral than she was used to seeing. Kinda reminded her of a horror movie. Or a really, really weird snuff film. As she thought, she moved closer to the wall he was clinging to and stared up. "I have questions, dude. So many. First though, mind coming down here so my neck doesn't start to hurt trying to look at you? I'll give you another piece of chocolate." She wasn't above bribery. The wrappers crinkled in her purse as she grabbed two pieces, leaving one wrapped and popping the other into her own mouth. "Second, you wanna hunt with us sometime? Cloak drains them partially, you finish them off? Everybody leaves full? I mean, not me, I take care of that before or after the hunt."

Eddie Brock has posed:
The offer of additional chocolate finds Venom promptly dropping from the wall and landing heavily upon the alley floor. While Cloak busies himself with policing bodies for any goods worthy of note, Dagger is baiting a hook. Baiting a hook with one of the more delightful - and delicious - this planet has to offer. The promise of additional chocolate finds Venom rather obviously curious. Though that baited hook comes with questions.

Venom doesn't recoil, but he does halt his advance. He crouches down and his thick arms come to rest across his knees as the brutish creature adopts himself a squat, which reduces his otherwise staggering height. It also has the effect of making him seem less harmless. Which is obviously a bit of guile on the symbiote's part.

The question however earns a slow tilt of the symbiote's head, "Hunt with you?" The question hangs in the air for a moment and Venom's arm stretches out toward Dagger. The symbiote's palm turns upward and his impressively clawed fingers unfurl, opening the fist and revealing the palm. He's waiting for his chocolate.

"This prospect intrigues us," a look is cast toward Cloak, whom Venom seems to study for a long moment. Then it is back toward Dagger that the alien's attention turns, "He is a monster too," there is some amusement there. Cloak had identified himself as a different sort of monster in the past.

"He is the monster and what does that make you?" Venom asks the white splashes of color that constitute his eyes settled upon Dagger.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Cloak barked a laugh at that. "Nope. Monsters that did this to us are long-gone." he said, pocketing what looked like a fat roll of bills and gave Dagger a thumbs-up. "But yeah. I'm a monster." he said simply. "I wanna live, people gotta die. Or at the very least go through some serious moral shit." he said in the interest of fairness. "So we decided, Dagger and I did, that the folks who were gonna pay were the folks preyin' on the innocent." he said simple. It was a stark, almost brutal moral calculus. "Maybe we can prevent having what happened to us happen to someone else. Let kids be kids, man. That's really all we're asking. Just let kids be kids."

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Dagger smiles, and unwraps the chocolate. "A different sort of monster," she says, stepping closer to the hulking mass and holding her hand out. "Intervention. Justice." She holds the other hand out, and a small dagger appears, not much longer than the width of her palm. The pointed end is sideways, unthreatening. "The Scale. I see their hopes and dreams. I can purge them of drugs and toxins. Offer a way out, if they deserve one. They lose a negligible amount of their life force in the process, but they get a chance to rebalance the scale."

The glow coming off the dagger is soft. Warm. "You're welcome to touch the dagger, it shouldn't hurt you. Might be a little warm, but the way this one was formed... it should feel a little bit like having hot cocoa." She stays still though. She's in reaching range. If she pisses him off, there won't be anything Cloak can do, and she does not want her partner to go through that. This is not a being to get overly sassy with, not yet. "So yes, if you would like to hunt with both of us, or one of us, whatever. You are welcome to come along."

Then she takes a deep breath. "I'm Dagger, and this is Cloak. What can we call you?"

Eddie Brock has posed:
Cloak's laughter does not seem to startle Venom. He barely looks in the direction of it. Though as Cloak confirms that he is his own sort of monster, Venom's horrifying face draws further back and apart, showcasing his rows of teeth in what can only be an amused grin. That expression seems to fade away as Cloak explains in greater detail those that the pair prey upon. He shifts slightly, rising slightly higher within his overall height. Suddenly the behemoth of a monstrosity is gesticulating with a clawed hand gradually forming into a mighty fist, "Then you are Lethal Protectors, too.."

Then Venom's attention shifts back to Dagger. The glowing dagger of light seems to draw the symbiote's attention for a moment, but he does not reach out to touch it. It might be the uncertainty of whether it would harm him that causes Venom's hand and arm to withdraw back to the point that he may settle back down onto his haunches, his arms draped across his bent knees, "We have a greater threshold for fools and who we can claim as tender morsels," the symbiote explains.

A look is cast from Dagger to Cloak and back again before the symbiote's leering smile grows all the while and he leans forward, his thick arms still laid across his thighs and knees as his tongue carefully tastes the air as he speaks, "We are Venom."

Tandy Bowen has posed:
"My grandma, what big teeth you have," Dagger half murmurs to herself. It isn't intentional, just slips out, but well. Good job, self. If you get eaten you probably deserve it a little. "Lethal protector," she muses. "Yeah, I guess sometimes we are that. I like it."

The dagger in her hand disappears, and she wiggles her fingers at Venom so he knows it's actually gone and not hiding as a trick. Well, she hopes he realizes that. "Venom." Her smile softens, and she holds the chocolate up. "Thank you for answering my questions." She points at his arm. "Can I touch?"

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
"Hey, Venom." he said, walking over to stand next to Dagger. "Lethal Protectors. Yeah. I dig that." he said. "Venom's a much better name that Lil Teefs." he said with a laugh. "Whaddya think, Dagger? You down to be a Lethal Protector?" he asked her. But then with her words, he gets the answer he asked for. "Guess it's unanimous." he said. He glanced over at Venom, then at Tandy. Her play, he'd back her as best he could.

But if she turned into a goo monster he was gonna be _so_ disappointed.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Approach of Cloak results in Venom's attention turning toward him, distracting the symbiote from Dagger. Or so it would seem, anyway. For one who could sprout a mouth, head, or whatever else from any place; is anything ever not being watched? The pair come together and this allows Venom to look between each of them. Their adoption of the Lethal Protector title earns a wicked smile from the symbiote as he seems to be developing his own cult of sorts. Even if he's truly not.

"We consume those who would plague others. Those we can eat," Venom speaks, likely of himself. Though in mixed company his use of 'we' and 'our' will surely become confusing.

The question of touching results in a moment of consideration. That consideration lasts all of a pair of seconds before Venom's height grows anew. He rises slowly to his full height and each of his arms extends, offering a hand to both Tyrone and Tandy. While Tandy had volunteered herself, it seems that Venom is likewise granting Tyrone the opportunity and perhaps illustrating Venom's own brand of trust as he's been witness to Cloak's capabilities.

The touch of the symbiote's flesh is deceptively warm. It ripples and quivers at first, seemingly malleable and fully capable of changing as it begins to shift and move at the prospect of the touch. Those that permit it will find their fingers, perhaps even their hands, gradually hugged by symbiote flesh. Becoming immersed in it is like a hot, pleasant bath. The touch is fleeting however and soon Venom begins to withdraw.

The horrifying head of the symbiote turns to regard the pair before he speaks with that guttural, hellish voice, "We will hunt together some times. We will leave messages for you near the place we first met. Or be there ourselves."

Then Venom looks from Cloak to Dagger and Dagger to Cloak. The white of his eyes suddenly shifts, separating and one half climbing higher before the white begins to arch across the field of inky darkness. It's as though he's raising his eyebrows; if he had them. "This will work, yes?" he asks of his proposed plan.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Ty made sure to go fully tangible before he accepts the gesture of trust from the monster. After all, from one monster to another, they didn't tend to be the most trusting sort. "Th-th-th-thanks." he said, mentally cursing as his stutter came back with a vengeance. The symbiote felt weird to him, and definitely alive. Warm, too. He didn't usually get to feel warm, not with the bone-chilling cold of the Dark. He went back intangible so he could at least have a fucking conversation without tripping over his tongue every four words. He couldn't even return the trust, as the Dark would start to leach life from him without Dagger's Light to protect him.

"Hey. Venom. You ever hear of something called Darkforce?" he asked.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
Dagger nods silently, almost overbalancing as her hand strains forward, chasing the warmth of that strange arm hug. "Yes," she agrees. "I work there, it's an easy place to find me." The chocolate on her hand is beginning to melt. She isn't sure whether she wants to eat it or not. "That's a very good hugging trick, Venom. You're welcome to hug me more often."

Her wits are finally back with her, and she sways her shoulder through Cloak's intangible form as a gesture of comfort, then turns and gives him a raised eyebrow at the mention. 'Are we showing him?' it seems to ask, and after a few moments she turns back to regard Venom. "Would you like to see the Darkforce? You're safe in there as long as I come with you." She had the energy to envelop both of them in her light, easily.

Eddie Brock has posed:
The chocolate!

Venom sniffs suddenly. It's likely the fact that he's just fed on something rather potent that the melting chocolate hadn't garnered his attention faster. Despite it beginning to melt, Venom reaches out with a pair of clawed fingertips to attempt at plucking the softening chocolate from the open palm. Undoubtedly, much to Tandy's happiness, Venom doesn't go as far as trying to lick the melted chocolate from her hand.

Suddenly his hand shifts, adopting the appearance of a second mouth as the chocolate between his fingers is drawn into that newly formed maw. The tongue that sprouts from it lashes about happily, before it once again ripples and shifts itself back into the terrifying brute's normal hand.

The question of the Darkforce and the invitation to see it results in Venom shifting slightly. Not to flee or attack, but with a moment of contemplation. Venom's head turns, regarding the nearby body for a moment before the symbiote's attention turns back to both Cloak and Dagger, "We have not heard of this Darkforce," he answers first of Cloak's question and then Dagger's offer, "See it? Safe in there? Not now. Some day. Soon, perhaps. When next we meet?"

The alien looks between the pair, likely seeking to determine their own agreement.

If they needed incentive to agree? Venom begins to withdraw, moving with heavy steps back toward the alley wall. An arm lifts and a hand presses lightly, yet that light touch seems adequate enough for the symbiote to begin pulling himself in a crab-crawl up the wall without taking his attention from Tyrone or Tandy.

"Your chocolate was generous and will not be forgotten," and that seems about as much a farewell as Venom is prepared to provide.

Tyrone Johnson has posed:
Ty looked at Tandy. "We are NOT taking him into the Dark! It's kinda the point - there's nothing to see! I was gonna bring a little into this world, let him see that. Ahh, fuck, we'll do it next time." he said as Venom peacefully withdrew.

It was oddly satisfying, settling into a place Ty didn't know he had that was empty, to know that he wasn't the only monster around on the streets.

Tandy Bowen has posed:
"I want a proper hug next time!" Tandy leans against Ty as she calls out, watching Venom crawl up the wall. "He's going to end up teleporting with us at some point if we hunt together," she says logically. "We might as well introduce him to it in a way that's a little less terrifying than a surprise trip through the shadows. Speaking of..." She glances at the bodies and sighs.

"Time for garbage disposal."